Spray drying and flow drying are widely used in the food industry for the encapsulation and stabilization of edible flavors because of their scalability, cost-effectiveness, and ability to produce stable free-flowing powders. However, controlling particle size distribution during drying remains a major industrial challenge that directly affects powder quality, drying efficiency, flavor stability, and product recovery. Non-uniform particle sizes can result in excessive fines generation, poor cyclone separation efficiency, agglomeration, uneven drying, reduced flowability, flavor degradation, and increased energy consumption during processing and storage. Therefore, understanding the relationship between drying operating conditions and particle formation is essential for improving industrial drying performance and product functionality. This review critically examines the influence of operating and formulation parameters on particle size control in spray and flow-dried edible flavor systems, with particular emphasis on process optimization for industrial applications. The effects of atomization parameters, including nozzle type, atomization pressure, and feed rate, together with drying conditions such as inlet and outlet temperature, airflow rate, and residence time, are systematically discussed in relation to droplet formation, drying kinetics, encapsulation efficiency, particle morphology, and powder quality. In addition, the influence of formulation characteristics, including carrier material, viscosity, solid content, and emulsifiers, on particle formation and flavor retention is comprehensively evaluated. The review further analyzes the relationship between particle size and functional properties, including solubility, oxidative stability, flowability, flavor release behavior, and sensory perception. Unlike conventional reviews that mainly focus on encapsulation materials and general drying technologies, this study specifically correlates drying operating conditions with particle size distribution and industrial powder performance to identify the suitable processing strategies for achieving uniform particle formation and improved encapsulation efficiency. Commonly used carrier materials such as maltodextrin, gum arabic, modified starch, whey protein, and hybrid encapsulating systems are comparatively analyzed with respect to their drying behavior, stability, and encapsulation performance. Advanced analytical techniques, including laser diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, gas chromatography, and thermal gravimetric analysis, are also reviewed for particle characterization and process monitoring. Furthermore, the review highlights current industrial challenges, including volatile flavor loss, particle agglomeration, high energy consumption, and scale-up limitations, together with emerging research opportunities involving sustainable carrier materials, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted process optimization, advanced atomization systems, and nanoencapsulation technologies. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of process–structure–function relationships in edible flavor drying systems and offers practical guidance for improving particle size control, encapsulation performance, process sustainability, and industrial production efficiency in spray and flow drying applications.
Meshram et al. (Sat,) studied this question.